Mark, I have not had a dog since I was a kid (73 now) – just never had the patience to treat them like they should be treated.

But I live in a neighborhood that has all sorts of dogs, and I know practically all of them by name. I know more dogs by their name than the people who walk them. When I meet them on the street I always say hello to the dog first – the few where I don’t know the name, I say: “Hya Pal, how ya doin’?”

Your mention tonite (10/29) of God making animals reminded me of a story I heard a long time ago and I only heard it once, and can’t remember where I heard it. I cannot believe you haven’t heard it, too, but just in case:

It is in the form of a legend, about time after the Garden of Eden and before the earliest civilization. All the people and animals lived together w/ no problems.

But one day God thot this was really not a good situation, and announced that he wanted them to be separate, and would cause this by making a crack in the earth in both directions, as far as the eye could see. At first it would be no more than a line on the ground, but as time went on, it would get wider and wider. God encouraged all the animals and people to get to the right side of the crack as soon as possible, to avoid any complications.

So over a few weeks, as the crack got wider and wider, all the people were on one side and all the animals were on the other, and everyone was happy.

But one animal was not happy. He looked very worried and concerned, and ran back and fourth along the crack, looking over at the people, then back at all the animals. He just got more and more agitated, then finally, one day, started way back from the crack for a running start, and ran as fast as he could to the crack, leaping as far as he could to the other side.

Well, he just made it – he got his two front paws on the ground OK, but his back legs were scratching on the wall of the crack, trying to get up to the top w/ the people.

The people saw this of course, and many rushed to the edge to save the animal.

So that’s how they ended up – all the people and the one animal, all happy and smiling at each other. And that’s how they’ve been ever since.

Arnold in Chicago

PS A few of my neighbors